June 30 , 2008 Edition

French Chef From Alaska Nets Sustainable Seafood Award
-- Seafood From Alaska In the Spotlight

Chef Joel Chenet, a dynamic French chef who makes his home in rugged Kodiak, Alaska, has attained the title “Ambassador of Sustainable Seafood,” and holds the 2008 Sustainable Seafood Challenge “Most Original” award for his creative contest entries during the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Cooking for Solutions event series. Chenet was included in a lineup of celebrity chefs from across the nation chosen by the Monterey Bay Aquarium to educate the press and the public about sustainable seafood.

Chenet participated in five separate activities during Cooking for Solutions. A kick off event with the celebrity chefs included Chenet being formally recognized as an “Ambassador of Sustainable Seafood,” for his work promoting sustainable seafood and a sustainable community.

For the biggest event, a “Gala” of sustainably-produced food and wine attended by 2000 members of the public and the press, Chenet prepared Kadiak Pie, his own elegant interpretation of a traditional Kodiak dish. He didn’t just oversee production, he personally shucked all the Alaska King Crab and prepared the Alaska Salmon for the pie, mixed all the dough by hand, shaped it, and baked it, creating hundreds of individual mini-pies as well as large pies to be portioned out. He also personally served the freshly baked Kadiak Pie to the attendees: one of the drawing points of the event is being personally served by the celebrity chef. The pie had a “down-home” Kodiak touch: parsley-like “petrushky leaves” and a dried ground salmon jerkey called “kuyuckuk.”

One of Chenet’s specialties is pastry, and he creates fanciful sugar sculptures, an art form called patisserie. The night before the Gala event, he designed and sculpted a patisserie piece to contribute Alaska atmosphere and style: inspired in part by traditional Alaska Native culture, the sculpture featured a Alutiiq-style mask rimmed with the pointed tips of king crab legs, green ribbons of seaweed emerging from the sea, and an otter floating on its back with a clamshell perched on its chest. It was displayed in every place that Chenet flexed his considerable culinary muscles.

For the aquarium-visiting public, with the Pacific Ocean at his back, he impressed audiences in the outdoor amphitheater with “Blanquette of Pacific Halibut Monterey” and “Butterfly of Black Rock Bass.”

The crowning event of the series is the Sustainable Seafood Challenge a timed competition involving a wide choice of seafood and produce the chefs can work with, and the last-minute revelation of the main seafood item to be prepared. “That was the most fun,” confessed Chenet, who garnered the award for “Most Original” with his preparation of this year’s center of the plate seafood: Alaska Black Cod. Chenet prepared two main course entries and a dessert. For the first main course he rolled black cod, fresh lobster, shrimp and scallops in a flexible tube of thinly shaved cedar which he had brought with him to impart flavor during the cooking process; these were complemented by wild leek butter, four species of asparagus, five species of mushroom, and an artichoke crown prepared with white truffle oil. The second entry incorporated Kona Coffee, much to the delight of master of ceremonies Chef Sam Choy of Hawaii. The coffee was roasted at Chenet’s Kodiak business, Mill Bay Coffee & Pastry, of which he is co-owner and chef. A rub of ground coffee and coriander graced sumptuous Alaska Black Cod, and it was pan seared. “I deglazed the pan with white wine, and added heavy cream to get a ‘latte’ style sauce,” explains Chenet, “then garnished with a fresh pea shoot salad.” He also created a dessert of fresh berries accompanied by a cookie in the shape of an Alaska brown bear.

A special gift basket promoting Kodiak, Alaska, with donations collected by Chef Chenet, was auctioned off for a fund raiser held as part of Cooking for Solutions. The basket raised hundreds of dollars and helped promote Alaska and Kodiak to all the people viewing the silent auction. 

At every one of his cooking stations, for the gala event, the outdoor demonstrations, and the Challenge competition, Chenet was calm and enthusiastic, sharing his knowledge of Alaska seafood with fellow chefs, the press, and the public. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, a sponsor of the Cooking for Solutions series since its inception six years ago, supported Chenet’s participation in the events.

Chef Joel Chenet of Kodiak, conducted outdoor cooking demonstrations using sustainable Alaska Seafood at the Monterey Bay Aquarium as part of Cooking for Solutions series. ASMI sponsored Chenet's participation in the event, open only to invited outstanding chefs. ASMI has been a proud sponsor of Cooking for Solutions since its inception.

Chef Joel Chenet displays his "Most Original" award, won for his creative preparations
of Alaska Black Cod at the Sustainable Seafood Challenge.